Cigarette making machine



May 7, 1957 Filed May 20, 1955 s. DEARSLEY 2,791,222

CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I

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INVENTOR GEORGE DEARSLEY ATTO'RNEY y 7, 1957 G. DEARSLEY 2,791,222

CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE Filed May 20, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

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INVENTOR GEORGE DEARSLEY ATTORNE United States Patent O CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINE George Dearsley, Raleigh, N. C., assignor to American Machine & Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application May 20, 1955, Serial No. 509,825

2 Claims. (Cl. 131-109) This invention relates to tobacco feeding mechanism for a cigarette making machine of the continuous rod type.

It is common practice in the cigarette tobacco feeding art to use what is described as a carded feeding drum for the purpose of removing a layer of tobacco from a tobacco supply held in a hopper. Another carded drum known as a refuser drum is usually employed in conjunction with the feed drum and is positioned above and close to the carded feed drum. The carded refuser drum rotates in the same direction as the feed drum which will cause their adjoining surfaces to travel in opposite directions. In this manner the refuser drum acts to brush or sweep back all tobacco picked up by said feed drum extending above a certain predetermined height.

In combination with this structure, it was also the practice to use tampers operating immediately in front of the area wherein the refuser drum adjoins the feed drum to tamp the shredded tobacco into the carding of the feed drum to fill any tobacco voids in the carding that might have failed to have picked up the correct amount of tobacco from the tobacco supply. A series of moving rakes, traveling in an orbital path were also employed with the tampers to push excess tobacco away from the area in which the tampers operate.

It was found that while the structure described above performed successfully, it also had certain inherent disadvantages in that the tobacco tended to become broken into smaller particles than was desired by the movement of the rakes. Also, extra operating mechanism was required to impart to the rakes the orbital path of movement that was necessary to push back the surplus tobacco from the refuser drum and to prevent it from interfering with the tampers. Also, should the hopper of a machine fitted with orbitally moving rakes be inadvertently filled to excess, trouble may be experienced due to the necessarily long travel of the rakes coming into contact with a large volume of tobacco which may overload the rake mechanism so that instead of raking back the surplus, it tends to shear backwards a large quantity, thereby interfering with its proper function.

Applicant has found that by forming the rakes with a particular curvature the rakes can be made stationary and still perform the operation of rolling back the excess tobacco that accumulates above the feed drum, and, consequently, also dispensed with the necessity of employing separate operating mechanisms to actuate the rakes.

An object of this invention is therefore to provide stationary rakes of a configuration which will effect a rolling action on excess tobacco which accumulates above the feed drum of a cigarette making machine.

Another object of this invention is to provide a set of stationary rakes interspersed between the tampers employed in the tobacco feed of a cigarette making machine to automatically roll back excess tobacco that accumulates above the feed drum.

, 2,191,222 Patented May 7, 1957 Another object of this invention is to provide a device which will minimize the breakage of tobacco shreds in the feed hopper of a cigarette making machine While maintaining a uniform feed of tobacco from the cigarette making machine.

A further object is to provide means for readily adjusting the position of the rakes so that they may be made stationary and still arrange to effectively roll back surplus tobacco from the feed drum.

A further object is to provide stationary rakes of a configuration which will exert a constant downward component force on the tobacco so as to more uniformly fill the carded feeding drum and which will permit surplus tobacco to roll backwards While maintaining the force towards the main carded drum.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear as the description of the particular physical embodiment selected to illustrate the invention progresses. In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, like characters of reference have been applied to corresponding parts throughout the several views which make up the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of a continuous rod cigarette machine tobacco feed illustrating the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing the arrangement of the stationary rake rods with respect to the tampers.

In Fig. 1 I have shown how my invention may be used with a conventional tobacco feed for a continuous rod cigarette making machine, such as that shown in U. S. Patent No. 2,447,457 granted to Charles Arelt on August 17, 1948. The tobacco feed consists of a feed hopper or housing 10. The bottom of the housing 10 has an endless traveling belt 12 traveling in the direction shown by the arrow for moving the tobacco T contained in the housing up against the carding 14 of the feed drum 16.

The feed drum 16 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow and is supported by a shaft 18 which is mounted in suitable bearings formed in the sides of the feed housing 10. A refuser drum 20 is mounted on the shaft 22 and has carding 26 formed thereon and is positioned above the feed drum 16 and spaced therefrom an amount which allows the carding 14 of the feed drum 16 to remove only a predetermined, uniform quantity of tobacco.

Suitably shaped weights or tampers 28 and 29 are mounted on one end of arms 30. The opposite end of each arm 30 is pivotally connected to a shaft 32 the opposite ends of which are supported in the feed housing 10. The adjoining spaced tampers 28 and 29 are connected by suitable cables 34 and 36 to opposite sides of the oscillating roller 38 which is mounted on the shaft 40. The opposite ends of the shaft 40 are supported in the end walls of the feed housing 10.

As the roller 38 is oscillated by shaft 40 it will alternately raise and lower the spaced tampers 28 and 29 connected to the cables or chains 34 and 26. If desired, reference can be made to U. S. Patent No. 1,959,916 issued to George W. Gwinn on May 22, 1934, for a more detailed discussion of the mechanism for operating the tampers.

Stationary rake rods R having a vertical section 42, an inclined section 44, and a downwardly descending end 45 are positioned so that the lower end of each rake member is positioned between the adjoining tampers 28 and 29 and the end rake rods R are positioned between the end Walls of housing 10 and the adjoining tampers 28 and 29. The inclined section 44 has an incline of approximately 45 degrees. A suitable clamp 46 is provided for adjustably holding each of the rakes R. The clamp 46 is mounted on a rod 48 which is supported at opposite ends in the ends of the feed hopper 10. The clamp 46 has clamping screws 50 which fixedly lock the clamp 46 on the shaft 48. Each of the rods R may be raised or lowered and held by means of a clamp screw 52.

If desired, a second clamp bar 54 gripping each rod R at a point spaced a slight distance below the upper clamp 46 may be provided for further supporting the rods R. This second clamp may be providedwith adjusting screw 56 for locking the rods R to the-clamp bar 54. The clamp 54 is adjustably mounted for in and out movement by rods 57, which are adjustably secured to a suitable bracket 60 by means of lock nuts 58, The bracket 60 is attached by suitable means to the feed housing 10.

The operation of this machine may be briefly described as follows:

Shredded cigarette tobacco T is placed in the feed housing on top of the endless moving belt 12. The belt 12, moving in the direction indicated by the arrow, moves the shredded tobacco T against the carding 14 of the feed drum 16 which rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow. The carding 14 picks up a supply of tobacco from the tobacco supply and carries it with it in the direction indicated by the arrow.

The tampers are alternately raised and allowed to fall by means of their connecting cables 34 and 36 by the oscillating movement of roller 38. These tampers come to rest on top of the tobacco and push the shredded tobacco down into the carding 14. Surplus tobacco carried upwardly by the movement of the feed drum 16 and the carding 14 comes into contact with the stationary rakes 45 which exert a partially downward force on the tobacco, pressing it into the card 14 and which deflect the surplus tobacco at an angle in the direction indicated by the arrows, maintaining a uniform pressure against the feed drum. I

As the surplus tobacco moves into contact with the inclined portion 44 of the rakes a tumbling action is imparted thereto which causes it to roll towards the rear of the feed housing 10. In this way the individual tobacco shreds are not torn asunder by moving mechanical means. The predetermined quantity of tobacco that is desired is carried forward by the carding 14 and any excess tobacco still remaining above the carding is removed by the carding 26 of the refuser drum 20.

The predetermined quantity of tobacco that is removed by the carding 14 is in turn extracted from the carding 14 by a suitable picker roll (not shown) and deposited upon a collecting belt (not shown) which may be similar to that shown in the aforementioned Patent No. 7 1) From the foregoing description it will be evident that there is a minimum of mechanical abrading and tearing elements engaging with the shredded tobacco to break it into smaller particles. Since the tobacco is acted upon primarily in bulk and is rotated substantially intact by means of the slanted guide rods 44 and rakes 45, the tobacco T in the hopper maintains the consistency desired in the manufacture of cigarettes.

The invention hereinabove described may be varied in construction within the scope of the claims, for the particular device selected to illustrate the invention is but one of many possible embodiments of the same. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted to the precise details of the structure shown and described.

What is claimed is:

l. A feed for a cigarette machine comprising a housing, a carded feed drum in said housing, a refuser drum positioned above said feed drum for removing excess tobacco therefrom, tampers for packing tobacco into the carding of said feed drum, and stationary means located in the mouth formed by the feed drum and refuser drum and extending between the tampers when the latter are at substantially their lowermost positions; said means having a free end extending downwardly at and closely adjacent the bight between the drums and extending upwardly and rearwardly from said free end to deflect excess tobacco to the rear of the feed housing.

2. A feed for a cigarette machine comprising a housing, a carded feed drum in said housing, a refuser drum positioned above said feed drum for removing excess tobacco therefrom, tampers for packing tobacco into the carding of said feed drum, and stationary means located in the mouth formed by the feed drum and diffuser drum and extending between the tampers when the latter are at substantially their lowermost positions; said means having a free end extending downwardly at and closely adjacent the bight between the drums and extending upwardly and rearwardly from said free end to deflect excess tobacco to the rear of the feed housing, and means for adjusting said first means horizontally and vertically to locate the free end in various positions within the bight of said drums.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 448,853 Corey Mar. 24, 1891 2,447,457 Arelt Aug. 17, 1948 2,473,215 Oslund June 14, 1949 i an. 

